Alan Simpson: “This is the original Simpson amendment No. 8 which is to repeal the current ban on open field searches. Therefore, any…”

“This is the original Simpson amendment No. 8 which is to repeal the current ban on open field searches. Therefore, any staff watching these proceedings at this moment will have immediately pressed a button, and the ejection device will propel their principal here to the floor to proceed with vigorous, vigorous debate on this issue. But here is where we are, ladies and gentlemen. Do not miss the impact of this. This happened back in the days of putting together the original legislation and what you want to recall is that no other U.S. law enforcement agency--none--except the Immigration and Naturalization Service requires a warrant, a search warrant, to enter and/or search open agricultural farmland. No other agency of enforcement in the United States is required to do that. That requirement that the INS agents obtain a warrant for such a search was placed in the law in 1986 by what I refer to as an unholy alliance between the agricultural growers and the ACLU.”